Alchemist Toad: The Oracle Chronicles
by Cheetachan
Summary: There is something in Todd, down in his soul is an ancient mark. And it is because of that mark that evil seeks to consume him. "You don't have a choice in this, it is your destiny, you will do it."
1. Chapter 1

Hey there, thanks for clicking my story. :) I hope you enjoy it. This story is staring Todd, 'cause he's my favorite. XD I tried my best to keep everyone in character, I hope they are... Oh, and constructive criticism is welcome, I encourage it in fact. Just don't flame please, I left my fire proof shirt at the cleaners.

Disclaimer: I don't own Xmen Evolution, if I did this story would be freakin' movie by now. XD

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Todd Tolansky walked through down town with his head hung low. It was just one of those crappy days. Y'know, the kind of day where you wake up thinking the world's out to get you and you're proven right._ That's _the kind of day he'd been having. It started that morning when he had _literally _rolled out of bed, and cracked his head on the nightstand. After the throbbing wore off, he gathered his stuff and headed for the bathroom. It was the day he took a shower. Unfortunately Pietro had chosen today to hold himself up in there. Longer than he normally did.

Todd had banged on door shouting for him to hurry up.

"_Come on Pietro! I need to shower!" _

"_Since when do you shower?" _

"_You __**knew **__this was my shower day yo!"_

"_Go jump in a pond!"_

Todd kept banging, and even started pleading. The reward he got was an obscene gesture in his face, and the sound of the lock clicking.

Giving up on the shower he headed downstairs to get his breakfast, and found that all the cereal was gone. The Blob and human time bomb struck again. Meaning he'd have to eat houseflies again. He settled by the trash can and waited. And waited, and waited. When were there _not _houseflies in the kitchen? He heard Lance call that he was leaving, he knew Lance wouldn't wait. His stomach growled, and he sighed.

Of course when they got to school Duncan and his lackeys were waiting for him, fortunately he was able to dodge them in class. You'd think that meant his luck was changing right? Wrong.

Turns out the chemistry teacher was feeling very sadistic. He had given a test, which Todd had failed. Nothing new about that, but the teacher screamed his lungs out at him about his incompetence and how _easy _the test was. On top of that Todd could hear the other students snickering and whispering at his humiliation. It wasn't the last chewing out he got that day. But it was definitely the worst.

Once school was over he headed out to meet the others at Lance's jeep. Duncan and his goons met him on the way, no classes to run to this time.

"_H-hey Duncan, that test today was murder huh?" _He instantly regretted that choice of words. Duncan grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall.

"_You missed your morning beating today Tolansky." _Duncan's eyes gleamed with malicious intent._ "Guess you'll just have to make up for it now." _He raised his fist and rammed it into Todd's stomach making him cough and gasp. The other Jocks were already laughing and cheering Duncan on. Duncan raised his fist again, this time aiming for Todd's face when a tremor ran through the ground. They all turned and there stood Lance; glaring at Duncan.

"_Crap! It's another freak!"_

"_Let's get out of here!"_

Duncan threw Todd to the ground and he and the other jocks ran away at top speeds. Lance walked over to Todd and knelt down, looking him over.

"_You okay Todd?"_

"_Yeah, thanks. You showed up just in time yo."_

They headed for the school's parking lot. When they got close to the jeep they could see that Pietro, Tabby, and Freddy were already waiting. A small pit of dread formed in Todd's gut. He really didn't think he could take Pietro's teasing or Tabby's love of blowing him up right then.

"_Yo Lance, if it's cool with you I'm just gonna walk home today." _He hopped away without saying anything else, leaving a somewhat confused Lance behind. He didn't see the confused and concerned looks the others were watching him with.

And that brings us back to the present, Todd still wandering around downtown at a pace that would make you think bricks were tied to his legs. It wasn't like he wasn't used to that kind of crap, but today it just felt so much worse. Particularly that 'F' he had gotten on that chemistry test. Not so much the grade itself, but the fact that it somehow meant he was an idiot. Why did no one ever consider that maybe it meant that the teacher sucked at his job?

Though if he was completely honest with himself, the grade bothered him a little too. Normally he didn't give a rats balls what grades he got. But chemistry was a subject he actually sort of liked. As Boom Boom always said who didn't love a good explosion? He may not have been a wiz at it, but he did try to understand it. And when McCoy was teaching he started to improve. Mostly because he was the one teacher who took Todd's questions seriously. But then McCoy went all were-ape and ran of with the X-geeks. After that Todd's grades started to plummet again. This was due to the fact that the guy Kelly hired to take McCoy's place was a total-.

Todd was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed the strange store he was walking by. It had some of the weirdest things he'd ever seen in its windows. A bowl with strange symbols etched into it, medallions that seemed to glow, and a ring that looked like it had fallen straight out of those movies. He looked up and read the sign above the door:

_Alchemic Artifacts._

He felt an urge to go inside, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't exactly his kind of place, but it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Besides, he thought as a small grin formed, there might be some good things to snag…

As he opened the door a little bell rang, he froze, and waited. No one came to the stores front, so maybe they were out to lunch or something. The door shut behind him. The strong scent of herbs dominated the place. He glanced up and saw why; plants, real living plants were hanging in small pots all over the ceiling.

'_Weird.'_

He walked around as quietly as possible, just in case the owner was around and hadn't heard the bell ring. He found more of what was in the window, bowls, medallions, rings. He also found a few things that he no clue what the heck they were. He stuffed a few of the medallions and a ring that had a particularly large stone into his pockets.

One of the stores walls was nothing but shelves. The shelves were full of bottles holding dried herbs, strange liquids, and books. He didn't bother with the bottles, having learned a long time ago to leave glowing liquids alone. He did scan over the books though, and one managed to grab his attention. He pulled it off the shelf and examined it. It looked really old, and the dust almost completely hid the books name. He wiped some off so he could see it, it read:

_Alchemy: The art of turning lead to gold._

That piqued his curiosity. He began to flip through its pages, and it vaguely reminded him of the books Wanda read. Only not as creepy. He didn't see too much about turning lead to gold, but this book was actually pretty cool. The more he looked through it the more it looked like chemistry, but much, _much _cooler. He decided to take it too.

"I see that book has caught your interest."

"Gah!" He jumped at the sudden voice. Dropping the book he whirled around and saw a woman standing there. An amused smile on her face.

"Do you always sneak up on customers yo?" Todd gasped.

The woman's smile grew. "My apologies, I didn't mean to frighten you." She picked up the book. "This is an excellent book, one of the best to learn from. Did you want to buy it?"

"Uh, I don't got any money…"

"Oh my that is a problem," she looked over his face. It was like she was trying to look inside him, and that made Todd more than a little uncomfortable. After a moment she smiled again. "But, I like you. You've got a little spark in you." What did _that _mean? "So I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Todd asked, finding this too suspicious.

"I'll let you take this book, _if _you come back and tell me how you're doing with it. Alchemy isn't for just anybody. And also…" She leaned toward him. "If you give those things you stole back."

Todd's eyes widened then narrowed. "You some kind of mind reader yo?"

The woman laughed. "No, no. I just know what's in my shop, that's all."

After Todd had given the jewelry back the woman handed him the book. She walked him toward the door saying she needed to close. As she gently pushed him out the door she said: "Oh and by the way, my name is Lillian."

Todd glanced at her. "I'm Todd."

"Well, I hope that book serves you well, Todd. And that you don't forget our deal."

"Yeah…" Todd gave her a weary look, and walked away. Not wanting to use his powers in front of this woman he still wasn't sure he should trust.

Lillian smiled again as she watched his retreating form. Of all the people to walk into her shop who knew it would be someone like him? She turned and went back inside. She should probably call the council…But what would it hurt if she kept this to herself for awhile? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity after all.

She never dreamt that she would have the chance to teach an oracle.


	2. Chapter 2

Tadah! Chapter two. ^^ Big thanks to those who reviewed chap one! ((hands you all some pie)) Cyber pie. ^^ Now on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Xmen Evolution.

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'_Where is he?' _Lance thought as he glanced at clock again. It was getting late and Todd had yet to get home, and that had Lance on a bit of an edge. He wasn't the only one either; Freddy had been nervously chewing on the same sandwich for almost ten minutes now. A new record for him. Pietro didn't look worried in the least, lazily flipping through TV stations. Tabby was doing her nails on the couch, every so often glancing up at Lance's near paranoia and Freddy's fidgeting.

"You know Lance," Tabby said. "Staring at the clock's not gonna make him come back any quicker."

"Yeah," Pietro agreed, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Why're you guys so worried anyway? It's not like Toad's never been out by himself before."

Lance didn't reply, but he knew they were right. Todd had been out even later then this before, and he did know his way around town. But the little mutant had been acting strangely all day, and with all those anti-mutant groups out there, plus Todd's unnatural ability to find trouble where there shouldn't even _be _any…Yeah, he was worried.

"It just don't feel right," Freddy said, sandwich abandoned. "I got this weird feelin' in my gut…"

"It's called being 'full' Freddy," Pietro quipped. "It's what happens when you eat the entire refrigerator."

"I'm serious Pietro! I'm really worried about him…"

"Oh, just relax Freddy." Tabby snatched his sandwich. "Toady'll come hopping back just fine!"

"That's not why I'm worried."

She gave him a confused look. "Then why are you worried?"

"Todd was pretty down today."

"Why? Did Mathews do something to him?" Lance asked.

"I don't think so. I think it was 'cause he failed that chemistry test today."

"Oh Please!" Pietro snorted. "Why would he care about that? He always fails!"

Lance was about to say something, but stopped when he heard the door open.

X x X x X

The sun had already set when Todd started walking home, the streetlights and the glow from windows being the only things keeping the town out of total darkness. Todd tried to scan through the book while he was walking, but apparently streetlights didn't make good reading lamps. He had to squint just to make out a few sentences. While he was attempting to read while walking, he walked straight _into _one of the streetlights. Rubbing his now sore forehead, he decided to read the book when he got home.

He kept a tight grip on the book though, not wanting to drop it into any puddles or mud. (It had rained the previous day, and the water had yet to drain out.) He absently felt around the books cover, feeling the wear and tear. He could feel every wrinkle, every notch, and the words on the front. As far as he could tell, they were some kind of metal leafing. He could've sworn he felt a small shock when his fingers brushed them.

He shook his head a little. Since when did he care so much about a stupid book? Sure he read the occasional comic, sci-fi novel, and sometimes even a school book if he was particularly bored. But he never really cared about what happened to the books. Drop it in the mud, so what? Spill some soda on it, who cares? You could get another easy. But this book was different, special. Somehow he got the feeling that if anything happened to it, that would be all she wrote. He'd never get another chance. A chance at what though, he wasn't sure.

Another charge went through his hand; he looked at the book in slight annoyance. He didn't know if there really was anything special about this book, but it sure as heck was weird.

When the Boarding house came into view, he let out a small yawn. It had been a crazy day to say the least, and bed was sounding really good. He began to walk down the driveway, he felt like he was falling asleep. It was strange; he didn't feel this tired a little bit ago… He reached the stairs that lead up to the front door. He started to walk up them, but as soon as his foot touched the first step, the book sent him another small shock. He growled a little, what was up with this stupid book?

_The book, _he stopped. How was he gonna explain it to the others? Lance was sure to ask about it, and Pietro was always sticking his nose in everyone's business, Freddy…Well, Freddy pretty much respected everyone's space. Tabby? She'd probably try to blow the book up. She was always blowing him and his stuff up. So, Todd decided, he'd be keeping the book secret. At least for now. Though he might tell Freddy, if the others weren't around.

How he was going to keep it secret though, was another problem. The lights in the living room were on, meaning the others were still up. He _could _try sneaking in through the upstairs windows, but Lance would still have question for him in the morning. Plus the roof, like the streets, was still wet from the rain yesterday. Also he wasn't sure if he left his bedroom window open or not. He wasn't about to hop his way up a wet building just to find a locked window.

Maybe he could try the back door? No, the others would definitely hear him come in through that squeaky thing. So that left the front door. Maybe, and this was a big maybe, if he could just stay as quite as possible he could go in and sneak up the stairs without being noticed. He doubted it would work, but it seemed like the best bet. He went up the rest of the way to the door; just as he was about to grab the knob, he heard Pietro's arrogant voice from inside:

"He always fails!"

Todd flinched. It didn't take a genius to figure who they were talking about. Well, there wasn't a point in stalling any longer. He turned the knob, he slowly crept in, he started to close the door. So far so good….

"Todd," he nearly jumped through the ceiling when Lance's voice came from behind him. Todd turned to look at him. Pietro, Tabby and Freddy were watching from the living room door. "Todd," Lance said again, taken aback by his friend's reaction. "Where were you? Do you know what time it is?"

"Oh hey Lance, I was just uh… hangin' down town yo. Y' know, clearin' my head after today."

"You were clearing your head for six hours?" Pietro asked skeptically.

"It was a crappy day!" Todd huffed, still trying to keep the book out of view. "I think even you would take awhile after a day like this yo!"

Before anymore questions could be asked, Todd started to head for the stairs. "I think I'm just gonna hit the hay now. Night guys."

"You don't want any dinner or nothin'?" Freddy asked.

"No thanks Freddy," Todd couldn't believe it. They didn't notice the Book! He was home Fre-

"Hey Toady," Tabby asked as he was on the second stair. "What's that book ya got there?"

Todd's entire body froze. _Crap! _


	3. Chapter 3

Hope you enjoy! R&R Please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Xmen: Evolution.

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_Crap, crap, crap, crap…. _Todd's mind was racing. Tabby had seen the book, and now the others were staring at it too! He at least wanted a chance to _try _alchemy before he was made fun of. But it looked like that wasn't gonna happen; four pairs of eyes were locked on him waiting for an answer. Maybe he should just come clean… No! There was no way Lance would let him try alchemy, he barely trusted Todd with making water balloons! He had to come up with a story quick. Think Toad! Think!

"Uh, you mean this book?" he weakly pointed at it.

"No Toad," Pietro drawled. "She meant the invisible one on your head. Yes that book!"

"It's, um…" Oh no, Lance was getting that look…

"Toad, what is that book?"

"I don't know!" Todd blurted out, almost instantly realizing how stupid that sounded.

Lance narrowed his eyes. "You don't know?"

"No it's…in German." Gah! That was so stupid! Stupid, stu- Wait a second that could work!

"Why would _you _have a book in _German_?" Pietro asked.

"I stole it out of Blue-boy's locker yo. Thought I'd see if he'd pay money to get it back." Please believe it, please believe it…

Pietro's eyes widened a little. "Toad that's… Brilliant! Well, brilliant for you anyway."

"Wha?" They really believed that? "I mean, you think so?"

"Absolutely!" Pietro ran over to stand next to Todd. "I knew you could be sneaky but this is just devious!" He placed an arm around Todd's shoulders and pretended to wipe away a tear. "I'm so proud!"

"Holding a book for ransom…" Lance shook his head, chuckling. "I think I've heard it all now."

"You better find a good hiding spot Toady," Tabby said as she went back into the living room. "Once Blue figures out his book was stolen you're gonna be his prime suspect."

"Then he'll know what address to send the money too!" Pietro called after her. He turned back to Todd. "So have you thought about how much you're going to demand for it?"

Todd was about to reply but the speed demon cut him off. "Remember not to ask for too much or too little. If you only get ten bucks out of it it's barley worth it. But if you demand too much then Fuzz-butt's probably just gonna ask Baldy to get him a new one."

"You sound like someone who's done this before," Lance smirked.

"And what if I have?" Pietro scowled when Lance's smirk grew. "Hey! You'd be amazed how much people will pay to get their stuff back! If they're too dumb to go to a thrift store, why shouldn't I make a few bucks from it?"

Freddy watched with a little amusement as the two boys carried on. None of them noticed Todd sneaking the rest of the way up the stairs.

XxXxX

Todd let out a sigh of relief as he closed his bedroom door. That had been _way _too close. He was going to put the book on one of the shelves, but then wondered if he should hide it. He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and placed the book on the shelf. The others hardly ever came into his room anyway. Besides, he thought as he stretched, he was too tired right then to even think of a decent hiding place.

Tossing his clothes on the floor, he jumped into bed and buried himself under the blankets. He relished the warmth. As sleep began to take him, he cast one last glance at the book, barely registering that the words on the cover were emitting a faint glow.

XxXxX

The fallowing morning Todd woke feeling completely energized. It was like someone had changed his batteries or something. And he liked the feeling. He couldn't have felt better if someone told him Kelly was fired! He paused at that thought. Ok, maybe _that_ could make him feel even better. But he still felt pretty darn good!

He looked over at the clock, it said 7: 15. He started to get dressed, then did a double take. 7: 15? It was Saturday morning! Why did he wake up now? He always slept in Saturday! For a brief moment he was tempted to just go back to bed. But he felt so… Not tired that it would've felt too weird. He knew without doubt the others were still asleep. So that meant he could do pretty much whatever he wanted without worrying about the others barging in. But what could do? He wasn't hungry enough for breakfast yet… Slowly, his eyes traveled to book on his shelf, and he grinned.

Snatching the book off the shelf he opened it and immediately started reading. He was confused at the strange writing, then realized he was holding the book upside down. Slightly embarrassed even though he was alone, he turned the book the right way around. He began to read the first chapter: _The basics of Transmutation._

_The common belief about transmutation is that it is simply turning one substance into another. That is true but that is not all transmutation is. It is also a purification. Taking a substance and causing it become its highest most refined form. There are also healing applications. But those will be discussed in later chapters. For the beginner alchemist it is always best to start with simple transmutations that don't require high levels of energy. We will start be taking a stone and turning it into a gem. All you will need is the stone, the correct symbols, and some metal to create the spark necessary to get the needed energy flow. Some metals work better for alchemy than others, but any metal will do for this task. The symbols for stone and gem can be found in the glossary in the back of the book. _

Todd flipped to the back, and quickly found the symbols he needed. He noted that some of the symbols looked familiar, while others looked like they came from another world. He went back to the first chapter and continued reading the instructions. They said to draw the symbols where the transmutation would be done. For lack of a better spot, he chose the middle of the floor. The book also said that there were preferred inks to use, but that any ink would do. So he grabbed a sharpie out of his backpack. The book explained that the symbols were to aid in the alchemists' concentration, and create a focal point for the energy.

After making sure he drew them correctly, Todd then headed for the obvious place to find stones: The back yard. Thanks to Lance's occasional lapses of control the back yard was loaded with all kinds. Instead of going through the house and risking waking the others up, he simply hopped to a nearby tree branch from his window. Once he was on the ground he began searching for just the right stone. He didn't want some dinky pebble, or a huge boulder. He'd never get that up to his room. He looked around for what he figured was about ten minutes. He was about to just give up and use one of the pebbles, but then he found it. Not too big, not too small, not too jagged and not too smooth. It was perfect. He grinned and snatched it up.

He quickly scaled the tree and hopped back through the window. He placed the stone on top of the symbols. Ok, all that was left now was the metal. Was there any he could use? Lance's tools were metal. They were also in his bedroom. It was way too early for a suicide mission. Tabby had a lot of metal jewelry, but there was that whole too early for suicide thing. He wondered if silverware would do…Wait, weren't the studs on his wristbands metal?

He walked over and picked them up off his nightstand and examined them. Yeah, they were definitely some kind of metal. What kind, he had no idea. Well the book said it wouldn't mater, so he wouldn't worry about it.

Going back to the stone, he picked up the book to see what to do next. It said to just hit the symbols with the metal, and to visualize all the energy going into the stone.

He was careful how he held the wristband, so he wouldn't hit it wrong. He was bringing it down, when he stopped. Why was he doing this? Magic and voodoo and whatever were all Wanda's things. Not his. Yet there he was trying to turn a rock into a gem. But then, maybe alchemy wasn't magic. It didn't _feel _like magic anyway. At least not the magic Wanda did. He hated it when she tried to cast spells. He always got a bad feeling, and the house always felt wrong after one of her rituals. But what he was doing now didn't feel wrong, he realized. It felt good, natural, even safe. With that thought in mind, he raised the wristband again, and brought it down right on the symbols. He certainly didn't expect what happened next. The symbols began to glow a pure white light, and the stone was quickly swallowed up by it. It stayed that way for about ten seconds. When the light died down, he couldn't believe what he saw.

The stone was gone, and in its place was what looked like a beautiful ruby. Hand shaking slightly, he reached over and picked it up. He turned it over examining all its sides, trying to see if it was real. And was amazed when he found that it was real_. _Really _**real**__. _Pure euphoria ran through his body. He did it! It worked! He turned a rock into a ruby! He felt like hopping around and screaming it to the heavens! He, Todd Tolansky, could do _alchemy!_

"_He always fails!" _Pietro's voice rang through his mind.

Todd paused, and looked down at the ruby still in his palm. '_Not anymore Pietro' _he smiled.

'_Not anymore.' _


End file.
